Betrayed
by ThatJackFrost
Summary: Danny tells his parents his secret. But what happenes when they dont accept him...and try to kill him? Who will he ask to save him? WHO will save him? Lots of suspense and Rated T due to violence. Non-evil Vlad in here. It is sort of a father-Vlad, Danny-son story. PLEASE REVIEW, AND I WILL TAKE ANY REQUEST FOR ANOTHER STORY! Better than it sounds!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I decided to write that DP fanfic I had mentioned to you in my story "He's Back!" All reviews and criticism accepted, but try and be nice? And any suggestions? Hope you like it.**

Danny knew that telling his parents wasn't a good choice. But he was just so tired of hiding all this craziness from them, of coming up with wierd and unusual excuses, of lying all the time. His parents hated the Ghostboy, but maybe, he had thought, just maybe their thoughts might just change if he showed them who he really was. In other words, he had risked fate.

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Danny had been talking to Sam and Tucker after a ghost fight with Skulker. If you took a look at him, he looked hideous. You see, Skulker had been upgrading his suit and hadnt been seen in so long that Danny forgot about him. So when he did show up, he took the boy by surprise. Danny, though, was always on alert since he was already used to being sneaked upon and fought Skulker. But unlike last time where he would usually come with a bruise or two, he had cuts and scratches all of his arms and abdomen, his jumpsuit was torn from various places, he had bruises everywhere, in all word, he looked pretty bad. Sam and Tucker were worried, not only because he was hurt, but because he didnt know and neither did they how to answer when his parents asked. So after coming up with various ridiculous excuses, Danny sighed angrily and stopped in his tracks, turning to his curious best friends.

"I think...it's time to tell them." They gave him shocked and disbelieving looks. "Danny," Sam exclaimed. "But what if-

"We already know that they will accept since that Reality Gauntlet battle happened with Freakshow, remember?" Tucker nodded thoughtfully, but gave him a worried look. "You sure, though?" Danny pursed his lips and bobbed his head up and down. They could tell he was worried, not to mention nervous, too, but Danny was Danny. Once he was determined, he did what he said he would do. He nodded to them. "I guess I should go now." Sam took his hand, stopping him as he turned towards his street.

"Call us, and tell us everything, 'kay?" He smiled and turned away, running towards his house.

* * *

The door opened in FentonWorks and Danny cautiously walked in, looking around for his parents.

"Mom? Dad?" There was silence, until he heard a faint "Bonzai!" from the lab downstairs. He sighed and hurried down, anxious and nervous about what would happen next. All he kept repeating in his mind was "_theywillexceptmetheywillexceptme", _which instead of calming him made it worse. He peaked around the bottom of the stairs, and sure enough, there were his parents in their jumpsuit working on the Fenton Speeder, which Danny had jammed up in his last battle, not that they knew that. His mother looked up and gave him a smile.

"Hi, sweetie! How was school?" He didnt answer, instead he stared at what they were doing, knowing that they wouldnt pay attention to his answer anyway. He waited for a few minutes before he sighed and walked up to where his parents were working, putting a hand on the tool Maddie was using to get her attention. She paused then closed the tool, turning to Danny with a frown.

"Honey, something wrong?" He locked his eyes with her, then glanced at his father, who also had stopped working and was now staring at him. He inhaled a long deep breath before looking at them again.

"I have something to tell you." Maddie smiled. SHe knew he had been hiding something for months, and she was positive that it wasnt something like drugs or being gay or anything, it was something else. She had asked him several time, but he would always change the topic somehow, so later on she had dropped it, deciding to let him come to them instead of them cornering him. Danny continued.

"I know you probably noticed that I've been acting wierd and all lately, that I constantly come late, skip class,and get low grades. I think it's itme to let you know why. But first, promise. Promise you won't hate me for this." Maddie gave him a confused expression before replying.

"Of course, honey, we will always love you no matter what." He nodded and backed away from them. Jack's eyes widened when two rings formed around his waist and one when up whilst the other went down. As they did, his clothes began to change into a black...jumpsuite? What is that _DP _emblem? THe only thing he knew that stood for DP was Danny Phantom. The rings continued to go up, and Danny hair started to change colors. No only one color. White. His skin had turned pale.

And Jack gasped when he realized the Ghostboy was standing right where Danny had, Maddie doing the same. Danny looked at them with pleading eyes, but they remained silent. Their eyes were filled with so many expressions. Shock, more shock, fear, confusion, terror, and suddenly hatred. Jack took out the Fenton Bazuka, the upgraded version that he had worked on previously, and shot at Danny without thinking. It was as if everything was suddenly in slow motion, and Danny, it seemed, was frozen in shock and terror. The glowing green shot hit Danny scare in the chest and he slammed into the wall, coming back to reality. Before he could recover though, another shot him. And another. And another. And all he could do was scream, plead. He even transformed back into who he was, but they didnt stop. He screamed Jazz's name, then Tuck's, then Sam's. He screamed Mom. But it was then he realized that she was shooting at him too. That her eyes had more hatred than Jack's, and that was saying something.

"STOP, PLEASE, STOP!" But they didnt listen, all they saw was betrayal, menace, and threat in front of them. Their own son. Their own son had been attacking the city. Their own son had attacked them, the mayor. Their own son had caused so much EVIL damage. Their own son was...A ghost. An enemy. A menace. A _freak. _So they shot at him. It was better for him to not exist than to be evil. It was better for him to die than to be a ghost. It was better for him to be killed by his own parents, than to let him roam around freely and cause danger and chaos everywhere he goes. So they shot, and shot, and shot.

Until he suddenly disappeared. They stared at the red and green blood-stained ground he had just been laying upon, screaming in pain. And wanna know what the funny thing was? Now that he was their enemy, now that they _knew _he was their enemy, they liked his pain. He was their own son, but they _liked _the pain. They, for some reason, wanted him to scream more. Which was why they were furiously looking around for the bastard, waiting for him to come back in sight so that they could finish him, slowly and painfully. They took out their ghost sensors, but their was no ecto-signature written on it, no sign of a ghost. And now that they think about it, it all explained why those invention worked aroudn Danny. Their son. Their enemy.

Maddie shivered, as she thought of the pain she caused him and how they yearned for more. They would get more, all they needed to do was spy. And wait.

Oh, yes, they would get more.

* * *

Danny stumbled by the dumpster beside the school. He had no idea how he had reached here, but maybe it was the fact that his mind and body were shouting DANGER over and over again to him,and he subconsciously went to the safest place he could. The school, or rather, the dumpster behind the school. He looked down at his body and winced. He had even more bruises now, but that was the least of it. He had deep cuts and burns all around his body. Tears made their way to his eyes as he realized that this was his parents' doing. That they had attacked and tried to kill him even though they knew it was him. He collapsed against the big trash dump, gasping in pain as it touched one of the cuts on his back.

HIs own parents. He had thought they would accept him. That they would love him no matter what. Isnt that what they had said when the Reality Guantlet was out? Hadnt they said that they would love him no matter what happens ever? What happened now? Things are so messed up. His parents hate him. His own parents.

Well, he needed help now. He knew that. He needed to get help or he would end up dying...or turning into a full ghost. He slowly reached into his pocket and took out his cellphone. He dialed Sam's number first.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Please leave a message after the tone.

So Sam was busy, he sighed. He called Tucker next.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Someone picked up.

"Hello?" He paused at the voice on the other side. It was definitely not Tuck, it was deeper and...sounded angry. "Hello?" He said again. "This is Tucker's Dad, he had been grounded for getting low-"

Danny closed the phone, feeling hopeless. What was he gonna do now? He couldnt call his friends, one wasnt picking up and one didnt have his for the duration. Jazz didnt bring her cellphone to school, it was probably at home, and anyway, he knew that his parents had put ecto sensors into them, so bad idea. He thought and thought, until a final and dreadful idea came to him. He picked up the cellphone and dialed the one number he thought he would never call.

After three rings, he picked up.

"_Hello? This is Vlad Masters speaking_."


	2. Chapter 2

Vlad was currently flying through the town of Amity Park, looking around, searching for someone. He had been going home when the boy had called him. He hadnt even picked up until the third time he called, not because he was ignoring it or such, but because it was on silent and he didn't notice it blink silently. So he answered, and being a business man, he greeted with the usual way.

"This is Vlad Masters," he said, but paused as he heard what he thought was labored breathing. "This is Vlad Masters," he repeated again. The person on the line paused then came a weak reply from a voice that shocked Vlad to no end.

"_V-Vlad_." And he sounded _so_ hopeless, _so _pained, _so unlike _himself. He, the one on the other side, usually sounded so confident and hopeful, sometimes even overconfident. He usually sounded positive, certain, and determined. And right now he sounded….weak. So naturally, it worried Vlad. The boy may think that Vlad hated him like an enemy, but that was far from the truth. Vlad cared about him more than even Jack ever could. Sure, there were times when he fought (physically) with him, and in fact, had hurt him many times, but that didn't mean he actually wanted to kill him. In fact, it hurt Vlad when he hurt the boy. So naturally, hearing him pained worried Vlad.

"Daniel?" Another long pause with labored breathing.

"_I need…..I'm…_." The boy stuttered on the other side, and Vlad's eyes widened when he heard a pained whimper. He needed to speak fast. Both of them did.

"Daniel, I don't know why-

"_I told them_." The interupption froze him. He…he what? He told them. Wait….he told them! What did he say? It didn't take a second to figure out who 'them' was, but did he tell them about Vlad too? But…And how did they react? Wait….if he told them…then why call Vlad…..

"You….you what?" It was the best way to confirm what he had heard, because Daniel did, infact, speak very faintly.

"_I told….they tried to kill…..I'm dying, Vlad_," came the reply. He almost dropped the phone in horror. They had tried to kill him? How….what….This couldn't be happening! What if….what if the boy was lying…just to get to him? No…no, Daniel would never joke about something like this, he knew it meant a lot to him. Which was why it was so easy to blackmail the boy. But…

Suddenly the line went on engage, but not before a whimper was heard.

"Daniel! Daniel!"

And that was how he reached here, in front of the Fentons' household. He turned invisible and intangible and walked through the house, looking for any sign of the ghostboy. All that was going through his mind was _pleasebeokaypleasebeokay _for Daniel. He sighed as he found no sign of the boy, but stopped when he remembered the "secret" lab downstairs. He phased through the floor and found himself staring at his two college friends, who had no idea he was there, with them.

*Vlad's POV*

"I can't believe that bastard was my son. My son!" Jack's shout made me grimace, and fury built inside of me. I was tempted. Tempted to kill the man in the orange jumpsuit right then and there. But no, he couldn't, not before finding Daniel. I stared at Maddie, hoping she didn't have the same thoughts. Why? Because if she thought of her own son that way, it meant that there was no way she would ever except me. But my hopes were turned down.

"Me either. I…I can't believe I gave birth to a..a monster," she said in disgust. No, I thought, this can't be happening. Now it was confirmed that this was no prank, Daniel had been rejected by his own parents. His worst nightmare had come true. I wondered what he was going through, how he was feeling. No, more like I knew what he felt like. My family had rejected me, thinking that their son was dead and leaving them. But that was different. They had thought I had been killed by a lab accident, which in a sense, I was half-killed. So instead of throwing me out, they said good-bye, telling me to live in peace in "Heaven". More like the Ghost Zone. So I wasn't exactly rejected, I was let go. Daniel, on the other hand, was rejected painfully, both physically and mentally. I felt another tug of my power, tempted to get rid of the now two nuisances in this house. But I couldn't. Jasmine needed to know what had been done to her brother. So I sighed silently, and looked around, my eyes stopping at the puddle of green and red blood on the tiled floor. I grimaced, phasing throught and looking for more. A small silver object lay on the floor, and I realized that it was his phone, and near it, was another blood puddle. It seemed like Daniel had transformed and slid across the ground. I followed the small puddles and paused as I realized that it led me into the forest that was near Daniel's house. Hurrying, I followed the trail. What I found made my heart stop.

I flew over to the end of the bloody trail and turned over the black-haired child. His eyes and mouth were clothes, and he would have looked peaceful if it werent for the blood running down his face. I scanned his body, my eyes stinging at all the injuries. They were everywhere. In the form of burns, cuts, and bruises. But what gave me an almost heart attack was his leg, which was twisted at an odd angle. It was obviously broken.

"Oh, my little badger," I whispered as I gathered his small form in my arms. Anger for his parents welled up inside of me, and I felt restlessness, restlessness for revenge. "They will get what they will deserve," I said to myself before looking at the innocent face below me. "But first, let's fix you up." _Hopefully you can survive_ was the phrase that echoed in my mind.

There was obviously no chance that he would be alive by the time he got there if he flew, so the answer to the problem was decided. He would teleport. Sure, it exhausted him at times, but that was only if he did it for too long. He closed his eyes, thinking about his castle, and in a snap, everything was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Within a second, they had reached their destination. Vlad hurried to a room and laid Daniel into the provided bed inside. He looked for a speaker and clicked the button, speaking fast.

"Nina, George, Derek, and Kendra, I need the four of you to come up here and bring all the medical supplies." He didn't wait for a reply as he began to clean the blood off Daniel with a wet towel that was located in the restroom. His maids and servants/workers were all ghosts he had helped in the Ghost Zone. He hadnt told them that they had to work, but they seemed to want to work at his home, probably because they were safer here and knew it. A moment later, the door opened and in came the four workers he had called. The made called Nina, who had blonde hair and red eyes with pale skin, gasped, nearly screaming in horror. Vlad held his hand up and she immediately stopped the scream building up.

"Daniel needs help. Give me everything you have brought." They hurried to do as he said and helped him tidy the boy up. Vlad grimaced at the amount of injuries, there were just so many in the form of cuts, welts, and bruises. His whole body was broken and bloody. He was positive that Jack had used every weapon that was close by, and that Maddie…..Maddie didn't show any remorse either. It seemed like they had continuously shot him. Vlad internally winced. The boy must have begged them to stop, and he couldn't _imagine _Daniel doing such a thing. He was just so strong and confident, that it was almost too hard to believe.

"What do we do about his leg, sir? I'm certain it is broken." Vlad broke out of his thoughts and sighed at Derek. He knew that they would have to set the leg, but doing so would cause Daniel pain, and he was sure they did not have any morphine or such a thing to help him.

"We have to set it….hold him down, we don't want him thrashing around and opening his wounds." George and Derek held the boy down while the two girls watched, holding each others hands in fright, and he couldn't help it either, he had a bad feeling about this too.

"On the count of three, then sir?" He nodded and sat on his knees, taking his position so he could set the leg. It felt like years but when George finally counted three, he set the leg in one powerful motion. The reaction was immediate. Daniel's eyes snapped open and a heartbreaking scream wrang out in the room as he struggled against the strong hands of the two men holding him down. Tears ran down the sides of his face and his eyes were running around wildly as he tried to figure out everything.

"No, please no more Dad, I cant….No! Mom, please stop!" They all flinched at the boy's cry, and the maids immediately began to sob in sadness. Daniel continously struggled, until Vlad realized that he was just sitting there.

"Daniel! It's alright, I swear it is. You're safe, I promise, you are." The boy breathed heavily as he focused on the familiar face in front of his own. His eyes widened as he realized he was in his arch enemy's house. But…how did he get here? What was going on? Was he being tortured?

"P-please…stop…I…It hurts," he whispered in terror. Vlad's eyes filled with tears as he realized what Daniel was thinking. He thought that Vlad was torturing him, that…

"Daniel, do you not remember what happened?" The low, pleading voice got the boy's attention immediately and his eyes focused and unfocused as he tried to remember. And when he did, he began to hyperventilate. His own parents. His own parents had rejected him for being a ghost. For….being different. They had attacked him….for being a ghost. They didn't stop when he transformed back because….he was a ghost. He was evil in their eyes now, an enemy. Tears fell down his face as he remembered every single painful moment. Vlad realized this and immediately pushed himself forward, wrapping his arms around the child in pain, making sure he knew that he was there for him. Daniel clutched at his shirt, sobbing his eyes out, getting all the pain out, showing how hurt he was and felt.

The maids and servants just stared at the two with looks of worry and sadness. The boy was obviously hurt not only physically but emotionally. They did not know what had happened, all they knew was that it was something very bad. How? Well, they knew that Vlad and Daniel were like enemies even though the billionaire wanted him as a son. They knew both of them were half-ghost, but that's as much as they knew. What they were certain about was that it was going to be a long journey for the boy to recover.

Danny had slowly quieted down, his wails of despair now whimpers. He had grown calm, but still had a death grip on Vlad's shirt. Vlad, noticing this, slowly began speaking. "Daniel, we need to heal your wounds. After that, we can talk about everything." And by everything, he meant everything. Everything that had happened, everything that Daniel was feeling, what he was going through. A whine left Daniel's lips and he peeked up at Vlad, breaking his heart at the look on his face. His face and eyes were red, tear trails were glistening in the light, and that look of fear had returned to his face. He knew that they needed to heal his wounds, but…it would be so painful. He didn't want to feel any more pain, everything hurt just so much. All his injuries felt as if someone had poured salt over them, his leg burned like hell, and it was just painful. But he knew that if he wasn't heal sooner or later, he would have permanent damage.

"O-okay." And the way he said it showed how much of a kid he was to Vlad. The man knew that Daniel didn't want to feel pain anymore, but the boy was smart and knew that he would regret delaying the heal. Vlad gave him a sad smile and slowly laid him down, noticing how he winced over and over again as he did, sadly though, the boy could not return the smile. He looked over to the four servants of his and nodded, and they immediately began to help. Nina and Kendra left to get a cast from the medical ghost, Ronald, while George and Derek finished wrapping the other wounds correctly. Vlad just held Daniel's hand, grimacing at the pained yelps that were heard as antibiotics were rubbed on his wounds before being wrapped. But what surprised him was the strong hold Daniel had on his hand, if he were fully human, Vlad would probably been in pain.

The door opened and Nina, with the cast in her hand, walked inside, Kendra on her heels. Derek took the cast as Vlad sat down to begin. Every movement caused the boy pain, making George have to hold him down as he hastily set it in. About thirty minutes of pained screams and thrashing, the cast was set. Vlad looked over at Daniel, noticing how quiet he had gone, and pursed his lips as he realized he had lost consciousness again. Atleast he would feel too much pain anymore. Making sure that he was comfortable, Vlad stood up to leave the room.

"Alert me of his waking when he does. I will have to check his condition." George nodded as he made his way out of the room. He transformed into Plasmius and flew out of the building.

He had some visiting to do.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, guys, I know I promised to always update in a few days time, and this time, few days turned into few weeks. And Im really, so so so so sorry! I love updating and getting reviews from you guys, but in all honesty, blame the teachers and the homework they give me, add the amount of projects I get every single week, yeah, well...its too much and im super busy. So hope you enjoy it, and PLEASE REVIEW**

Vlad stayed with Danny till night, making sure he was comfortable and checking his medical condition. He sighed as he wringed a wet, cold cloth and places it on Daniel's forehead, who was staring at him with a grateful look. Vlad had realized that the boy had a fever when he had hugged, or rather crushed him against his chest, and he knew that hot temperatures were not good for young Daniel, who had ice powers which caused his temperature even as a human to be lower than everyone else. Vlad was the opposite, he had heat powers, which meant he had a higher temperature than normal humans. So as soon as Daniel had laid down, he ordered a small towel and ice water.

When Daniel had said that he trusted him, Vlad felt joy. Sure, the situation right now wasn't one for joy but he had never heard Daniel say such a…..nice thing, seeing as they used to archenemies.

He wanted to talk to Daniel about what had happened, but he also knew that he was not ready, and would not be until later. When he saw the teenager cutting his wrist, he almost had a heart attack. It hurt him that Daniel would want to kill himself, it hurt him that one incident took away his will to live. But it was right after he snatched the sharp object from Daniel that he promised that he would bring that will back. He looked down at Daniel, who was staring into space with empty eyes. It scared Vlad to see such empty eyes, especially those eyes being Daniel's. He was usually so full of life and energy, so cocky and confident, that it pained Vlad seeing him so…lifeless.

"Daniel?" The boy didn't answer, all he did was look at him with those disturbing eyes. "I saw Jasmine." It took only those three words to get even the smallest sparkle in his eyes, even if it was curiosity. "She told me that Samantha, Tucker, and she will always be there for you." He didn't say anything, just nodded.

God, what would it take to get something out of the boy! A smile, a smirk, green eyes, just something that would show that some of the old Daniel was still in there somewhere. But nothing came, just a curt nod, almost as if it didn't matter. It hurt to see someone so strong to be such a mess; it was as if someone had died and he had gone into shock. Vlad wanted to shake Daniel hard, to yell at him. It angered him, yet it saddened him.

"Daniel….do you…do you want to talk about it?" The black-haired boy didn't reply, but his eyes seemed to suddenly glisten. He stayed silent even though he wanted to scream and destroy everything, to wail and cry, to just…die.

"Why did you stop me?" The question seemed to confuse the rich man as Daniel stared at him.

"What do you-

"Why did you stop me, Vlad? Why did you stop me from killing myself? I could have ended all the pain! Every single damn problem would be fixed if I was dead, so why stop me? Wasn't I the one who got in the way of your plans? Why did you even help me when I called? You should have left me to die! Better yet, you should have killed me! I don't deserve to live. I don't deserve to live, Vlad, because I'm a half ghost, an evil thing that should not exist, something that should be dead. I don't want to live an-

"**DANIEL!** STOP THIS NONSENSE THIS INSTANT!" Danny shrank back slightly, but with eyes full of tears that wanted to fall so badly, he glared at Vlad, who suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders. His eyes widened in fear. No, no, he couldn't let this happen. He was going to hurt him for sure. Just like his parents. Just like his Mom and Dad. He wouldn't stop when he would start. He would kill him. Should he be relieved? Wasn't that exactly what he had been asking for a minute ago, then what was this fear?

Vlad, noticing this, loosened his grip, but still kept the angry look (and mood) on. "Never say that again. You deserve to live, Daniel. It is not your fault that your parents rejected you. It was their own. I stopped you from killing yourself because this is not you, Daniel. You are not yourself. You are sad, hurt, and depressed because of everything that has happened. You are not evil, and neither am I. Things happen, Daniel, you just have to be strong enough to face them." He let his arms fall to his sides and he straightened himself, now that he was calm.

"I promise you, little badger, I promise you that I will not hurt you. I promise I will keep you safe and happy here. I will keep you away from any danger. I will PROTECT you. I am not letting you go anywhere till you are ready." The entire speech had rendered Danny speechless. Vlad…Vlad actually cared about him? He would protect his own…arch enemy? Huh, guess the saying is true then. Don't judge a book by its cover. How true it was proving to be right now. He didn't understand.

"Why are you being so nice to me? Shouldn't you have me tied up or something?" Vlad heard the twinge of fear in his tone, though he sounded careless and empty, something that bothered Vlad a lot. And it hurt to think that Daniel had to doubt him about such things. But then again, the past had been rough.

"No, Daniel, I don't need to have you tied up. Because unlike that few times in the past where I _captured _you, this is the one time you called me. I do not hate you. You may think we are arch enemies, but in truth, that is a lie. You ask me why I'm being nice to you? Well, you and I are the only ones in the entire world that can understand each other almost too well, even more than Mrs. Manson and Mr. Foley. I may have hurt you many times in the past, Daniel, and to be honest, it did not feel good to cause you pain, but my true intention and desire was for you to become my half-ghost son. The son I always wanted." Again, Danny felt speechless. This guy, this guy that he would usually call fruitloop was…actually a very good man. He helped Danny when he asked for it. He worried for him, he understood him. Why didn't he see this earlier in the past? Why was he so clueless? Only one way to fix this….

"I just….I can't believe my own parents would do that to me, their own son." Vlad's demeanor turned dark and menacing.

"Neither can I, Daniel. They truly do not deserve you as their child. You deserve much better than they can give you. You sacrificed so much for them, even to the point where you almost died, yet they tried to end your life upon finding out that you were not fully human. I don't understand how they could be so….inhuman." Danny sighed, trying to not cry again. Vlad was right. They should have accepted them. He was their son after all. Vlad hugged him once more before laying him down with a little force. He walked to the speaker and clicked the button.

"Darius, I want you to bring my dinner upstairs along with Daniel's. We will be eating dinner together."


	5. Chapter 5

Sam sat, crying on her bed. Jazz had just told her what had happened at the Fenton household. Danny had been attacked by his own parents even though they knew who he really was! How could they!? Danny was their own son. What would happen now? She sighed and put her head in her hands. She hoped Danny was okay. No, she knew Danny _would _be okay, because he was strong, sweet, and powerful. But what surprised her the most was the fact that _Vlad _helped him, out of everyone, Vlad helped _him. _When she found out, she made Jazz repeat what she said, only to confirm that it was him who had helped her best friend. She was thankful and doubtful at the same time. What if Vlad did something to him? What if….no, Vlad did say to her and Tucker so many times that he wanted "Daniel" as his son. Sam always noticed this grimace he had whenever he hurt Danny, like he didn't mean it to happen. But what was happening now wasn't going to change, and anyways, the farther Danny is from here the better. Which means that it was them that would deal with all the ghosts in town, and not their team Phantom's leader. Wait….did Tucker know?

She picked up her cell phone and dialed his number.

"_Yeah?" _She sighed when she heard his voice, thankful that it wasn't his dad picking up. Dealing with Mr. Foley was hell.

"Hey, Tuck." She didn't wait for a reply and continued. "Did Danny call you after he went home?"

"_No, why?" _ There was a tinge of worry in his voice as he asked and she hurriedly replied.

"Jazz just came to my house and told me everything. He told them, Tuck. He wasn't lying when he said that he will tell them!"

"_What? What happened?" _Sam sighed, tears stinging her eyes.

"They attacked him Tuck, they attacked him even after he showed them his ghost side. He even transformed so that they could see it was their Danny, but they didn't stop shooting at him." There was a long pause before a horror filled reply came.

"_Oh my god. Where is he now? Is he okay? Please don't tell me he's dead, Sam, pl-_

"Tuck! Calm down! He's not dead! While they were shooting at him, he went intangible and fled to the forest. I think he must have called us but I don't have any missed calls, but anyways, he called Vlad after that!" This time there was a sound as if the phone was being saved from a drop before Tuck came back on. "_WHAT!?" _

"Yeah, I know, but Vlad took him to Wisconsin and wrapped up his wounds and everything. Danny's gonna stay with him now." She waited for a reply and after a while she thought that maybe he hung up. She was about to close the phone when she heard a "oh" from the other side.

"_So is he okay now?" _Sam sighed. She honestly didn't know. She hoped so, but she couldn't be sure. Jazz had told her the extent of his injuries, and Danny was seriously injured. She even said that if Danny had waited any longer, he probably would have faded.

"I…I don't know, Tuck. I just…" Tears found their way to her eyes again and she sucked in a sob, making sure that Tucker didn't here. But it's not like Tuck wouldn't know.

"Just hold on, Sam. This is Danny we're talking about, he'll be fine." Sam smiled. Only Tuck could come up with something as positive as that.

"Thanks, Tuck. You too."

The line went engage.

Danny sighed as he played with his super fancy food. It was ratatouille, something he never had tried. His mom had never made such a thing, always being busy helping his Dad make ghost weapons. Mom….He didn't know what to do anymore. What would he do? He didn't have a real home, his family had basically disowned him, and he was stuck in a huge mess. Vlad on the other hand, had solutions. He decided that Danny would stay with him until he wished to leave, and he did not know what to say. For some reason, his guts were telling him to trust the man and live with him, that he would be happy with him if he did. And the look of joy on Vlad's face when Danny said that he trusted him was…pleasant and suited Vlad much more. He looked less evil and more human. He sighed. Guess he was wrong about the man, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't be on alert.

"Daniel." He looked up to see Vlad staring at him. He sighed again and looked back down at his food. He plunged the fork into one of the vegetables and plopped it in his mouth, chewing slowly.

"You need to eat, Daniel, it will help the healing process." He visibly flinched. The healing process. He was going through a healing process. Why did this disturb him? Hmm, maybe because his parents did this to him! Vlad noticed his furious, yet saddened expression and immediately understood what he was thinking, but kept quiet as he ate his food. Danny pushed his food away and looked up at the ceiling, staring at it with that same blank look that disturbed Vlad so much.

"Daniel, you need to eat." The boy didn't say anything, just shook his head. Vlad sighed and just picked up the plates, putting them on the tray. "I shall come back in a few minutes, please, eat, son." After checking the boy's vitals, he left him alone in the dark room. He needed to be alone. Both of them did. Daniel needed to think through about what had happened, and Vlad needed to get information. So he did what was necessary. He was going to see what exactly happened at the Fentons' before Daniel was attacked.

He hurried to his room and opened the T.V., turning it to the Fenton spy camera mode. He pressed the rewind button and waited until he found what he needed. Pushing play, he tensed up and watched as Daniel revealed his secret.

"_**Promise you wont hate me." **_The two bastards nodded and the transformation began, and by the time it was done, Maddie and Jack had their guns out. They began to shoot. And Vlad's hand turned into a fist as he saw Daniel beg his parents to stop, as his parents said hurtful words to him. _**"No son of mine is a ghost!" "You're a freak!" **_He winced at that one. Oh Maddie. He couldn't believe that she capable of saying such things to her only son. Jack, on the other hand, he could believe. The bastard had always been two-faced, hadn't he? He had known, back in college, that Vlad had a crush on Maddie, yet after the accident, he betrayed him and married her. But now, Vlad didn't regret losing that chance. In fact, now the love he had for Maddie was gone after seeing the cruelness she was filled with.

He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. "I will make sure you are happy, son. I will bring back that defiant, fun Daniel back. I promise." He thought to himself. He didn't know how to, but he would.

He stood up, turning around, only to freeze when he found Daniel, whose horror-filled eyes were frozen to the screen. He didn't say anything to Vlad, just continued to stare at the paused screen with those painful blue eyes. He showed no emotions on his face, but through his eyes. They stayed like that for a while until Vlad realized he wasn't doing anything.

"Erm, Daniel," he coughed, cursing himself for stuttering. Danny's eyes snapped to him, still filled with fear and pain. "I…..I…uh…" It was then Vlad realized why he hadn't been doing anything, it was because he didn't know what to do or say. What would he say? 'Hey, Daniel, I've been spying on your family for almost a year now. Oh, and I was watching that so I know what happened with you down there' was so not gonna work well.

"You spy on us?" His question wasn't full of anger, in fact, it was more like stating a fact. He nodded, waiting for Daniel to get angry at him. But nothing happened. The boy, instead of giving him a glare, asked another question. "Why watch….that?" It was Vlad's turn to talk, to answer. But how to reply? He decided the truth was the best way.

"I..needed to understand." And those words were all it took for Danny to understand. Vlad wanted to know what had happened. He wanted to _understand. _It honestly touched him, though he showed none of it. But why did he care so much? Weren't they like, arch enemies a few hours ago?

"Why?" Vlad flinched. He should have expected the question, but it just….he didn't know. He slowly walked towards the blue-eyed boy, and turned off the television. He put his hands on Danny's shoulders and sighed. "Maybe because you and I are alike. Because I know how you feel. Because, though I once may have wanted you an apprentice, but more than anything, I think of you as a son." Tears filled Danny's eyes and he said nothing, just stared at Vlad, the man who had helped him already so much.

"Thank you…thanks so much."


	6. Chapter 6

Days went by as Danny stayed at Vlad's while he recovered both emotionally and physically. He had improved a lot though. At the beginning of his stay, he would flinch at the mention of his family at all; that had lessened now, but he still had that pained look whenever his parents were brought into a conversation. What was surprising though was how well he and Vlad were getting along. Vlad seemed so human lately, so….not evil, that Danny basically forgot about his evil clone plans. If it was any day before this happened, they would have been shooting ecto-beams at each other and fighting every second. It was odd, yet normal. Vlad understood him so well that it surprised Danny every single time he thought about it. He didn't push Danny to talk about the incident (if it could be called that), in fact, Danny had shockingly been the one to go to him to talk about it. After the difficult conversation, though Danny had thought that Vlad would consider him weak, he was instead hugged by the older halfa. He held his hand like a father would do to a son through the pain of when they had to replace the cast on his healing leg. The man had then dialed Jazz's number for him and made him talk, and Danny, who had been missing his sister and his sister only, cried as he spoke with her. She told him how she would make sure they have no clue where he is, and that she had slowly begun to destroy their ghost weapons without letting them go. Sam called a few hours after that from Tucker's house. She sounded angry at the mention of his parents. "No offense, Danny, but they were such dumbasses, I can't believe how cruel they were!" She ranted on as he quietly listened, shaking his head as he slowly gave a small smile, realizing that even in this situation, Sam was the same. He asked about ghost attacks and was surprised that his enemies left when they found out there would be no Phantom to fight with. Sam told him that she and Tuck was staying away from his parents after Jazz had warned them that they were going to interrogate anyone who had connections with Danny. So lately, whenever either of them saw one of the Fentons, they would flee. It worried Danny. What if they got hurt and he wasn't there to save them? Vlad, as he was doing lately, eased that problem for him.

"I installed cameras around the city ever since I became mayor, son. So if anything happens, I wont be needed to be notified by anyone, I will know myself."

It surprised Danny how much Vlad worried for him all the time. When he was still in bed, Vlad sat by him. When he got bored, Vlad took out a book, mainly a Harry Potter book, and read it to him. Shockingly, he actually didn't get bored and found it to be a really interesting and adventurous book. In fact, he believed he was in what everyone called "the Harry Potter phase" which went on till….well, forever. He now wanted to watch the movies with Vlad.

Yes, with Vlad.

Danny found that he enjoyed hanging around his old arch-enemy who was now his only friend. Sure, he at first did it to keep mind off things, but he liked it. Vlad had been right in the past when he said that he could take care of Danny better than his own parents. He fed, housed, and gave him time like a parent should, but Danny wasn't ready to just start calling him Dad or anything. It would be awkward, even though he knew Vlad was waiting for that day to come. He had taught Danny much about business, and Danny found that it was actually quite interesting and that he might just go into business if he got away from his ghost hunting problem. It was cool, learning about how to handle all that money and how to employ people, etc. It was almost like a family. But again, Danny, still recovering, wasn't ready to call it that yet.

He never caught Vlad spying on his family again. In fact, he had a feeling Vlad stopped because he didn't have time, what with the businesses he handled and Danny . Or he did it when Danny wasn't around. Still, Danny preferred not staring at the faces of his sneering parents. But it was a mistake, a mistake nonetheless.

Maddie and Jack sat in the living room, watching the screen of the television. They were watching clips of Danny Phantom, their worst enemy, fighting different ghosts, and writing notes down. See, they have been planning ever since their captured victim fled of how to get him back. Of course, they had already planned what they would do to him once they captured the boy, but first, they needed to figure out how to get him back. It was obvious he wasn't in the city, that he had fled somewhere else. But they were positive that the ghost had some way of spying on them. So now they were watching these videos, trying to find some sort of weakness that would bring the boy back to Amity so that they could deal with him once and for all.

Maddie was writing furiously when she noticed something.

"Wait a second, pause it, Jack." The big man did as he was told, waiting for her to tell what it was that was wrong. Maddie didn't say anything as she squinted at the screen, staring at who was standing behind Phantom.

"Is that….Sam and Tucker?" They focused on the screen and gasped when they realized they were right. Sam and Tucker had known. Their daughter had lied. She had said that no one but her and now her parent knew. Of course, she had had a tantrum after the boy had fled, saying that it was wrong what they did to him. But she was young, she wouldn't understand what a menace ghosts were, and how they needed to be eliminated. "Jack, open up the Fenton cameras set around our area of the town. Now that we have this information, I'm positive we need to know where the boy went after he fled like the coward he is." Jack opened up their Fenton SpyCameras, and pressed play, as he switch camera to camera, stopping on the one where he saw a black and white blur, covered in red. "There he is, that bastard," he growled but stopped when Maddie held her hand up, taking the remote from him and pressing Fast Forward. She let it go and stopped when the boy began sliding to the forest, then she switched to the forest camera.

The boy picked up his cellphone, calling someone. They heard his conversation with whoever this "Vlad" was. It certainly could not be V-man, as Jack called. It must be an evil ghost friend of the menace. The phone dropped from his hand and he fell unconscious. She pressed the button again and played when she saw another figure come into the view. She squinted then gasped.

"The Wisconsin Ghost!" They both shouted at the same time. Of course he would be in contact with an evil ghost like that, Maddie thought.

"I remember Phantom referred to him as…I think, Plasmius," Jack said. She nodded, writing it down. She observed as Plasmius picked the boy up and whispered to the boy something along the lines of "badger". It reminded them of Vlad Masters, their college friend, who always called kids "little badger". Jazz and Danny used to hate it, but he didn't realize it. They watched as the ghost suddenly disappeared in a wisp of red smoke. It was then that the idea struck Maddie and she smirked, her eyes full of vengeance.

"Jack, I have a plan."

Sam and Tucker walked slowly to school. Ever since Danny left, Tucker would wait for Sam outside of her house and they would go to class together. Before everything happened, it would be Danny who waited for Sam, then the two would go to Tucker's and wait for him, and finally after that, they would go together. Unless a ghost interrupted the routine, which happened quite often. Sam sighed.

"I wish Danny was here." Another sigh came, this time from Tucker. He nodded, not knowing what else to say other than "me, too". In fact there was actually much to add to that wish. Like wishing Danny's parents accepted him, or wishing that he never told them. Maybe they should be wishing that he didn't have to go to Wisconsin, where their former mayor, Vlad Masters, or their old arch-enemy and now ally, Plasmius, was staying for the while. It bothered and worried both of them that he was all the way over there, where they couldn't help him with his ghost fights or back him up. What worried them the most was the thought of how Vlad was treating their half ghost friend. Sam said that he would understand and sympathize despite being the cruel façade he put up. Tuck was negative on the other hand, saying that if Vlad didn't treat him right, "his ass would be handed to him" by him. It almost made Sam laugh, which is rare since its only Danny's jokes that get her laughing. Almost.

"Yeah, I know." The view of Casper High came and dread pitted in their stomachs. Here comes another day of people staring at their incomplete group. Danny's disappearance hadn't exactly gone unnoticed. It was odd, since Danny was not popular at all, one would expect no one to care. But what was weirder was the fact that the reason Danny's disappearance had been noticed was because of Dash, who had come the day after the incident looking for him. He got frustrated when he found out that Danny was gone, and ended up taking the anger out of Tucker by stuffing him into a locker. It actually reminded them of when Danny had purposely dropped Dash's book just to get Tuck stuffed in a locker when the African American had made fun of the 'Jazz trapping him in the Fenton Thermos' incident. The memory brought a smile upon Sam's face.

A sudden shadow loomed over them and for a moment they thought that maybe Johnny 13's shadow had arrived. But they were shocked to find the dark eyes of Jack Fenton staring at them as he grinned, and ecto-gun in his hand. They didn't say anything, instead they tried to move out of the way so that they could get to school, but when they stepped to the side, Jack mirrored their steps.

"Uh, h-hi, M-mr. Fenton, uhhh, we, uh, really need to, uh, go t-to class," Tucker said, cursing himself for stuttering. A low, dangerous, and totally out-of-place chuckle came from the man in the orange jumpsuit. He pressed a button on the bazooka in his hands and it glowed green.

"Oh, you won't be going to class today, kids." They turned around to see Maddie looking at them with the same sneer on her face, as if she was enjoying something. Their eyes were full of excitement..not to mention evil.

"Wait, wha-

Their question was cut off as a sharp pain reverberated through them simultaneously and everything turned black.

Amethyst eyes opened and Sam looked around, trying to figure out what happened and where they were. A table was in front of her which looked a lot like a torture table she had seen in movies. On top of it were green and white weapons with a word printed on them. _Fenton. _Her eyes widened as she remembered what happened. They had been going to school and Maddie and Jack had shown up. Everything had gone black after that painful zap feeling. Fear beared its teeth at her as she thought of what they would do to her. If they could almost kill their own son, then they were surely capable of torturing a human being. She turned to see an unconscious Tucker strapped to a chair beside her, and looked down to find herself in the same position. _Oh, man, this is so not gonna end well, _she thought. The sound of footsteps interrupted her thoughts and two figures came down from the staircases, one in blue and one in orange.

"What do you want!?" She shouted at them, feeling sudden anger rushing towards her. She felt like beating the crap out of them as she truly realized where she was. This was the lab they almost killed her best friend (slash the boy she liked) at. Mrs. Fenton smiled at them sweetly, as if nothing was wrong.

"Want? We want nothing from you, sweetie, unless you can give us information about Phantom." There was a sweet venom in her voice that made Sam struggle further in her restraints, making her want to strangle her. "Not gonna happen," she grunted. Maddie cocked her head to the head, smirking.

"I thought so." This confused Sam. If she knew that they weren't going to get any answers from her and Tuck, why capture them? It seemed as if Maddie had read their minds, and with a cruel smirk on her face, she continued.

"You are here to bring Phantom here. You see, if he really cares and is a 'hero', he will come when he sees you tied up and helpless." Sam's eyes went wide.

This was going to be a long day.


	7. Chapter 7

Danny sighed as Vlad got ready to leave for work. As the mayor of Amity Park, he had to be there for some sort of meeting. Something about property damage, now Danny wouldn't know about property _damage, _did he? It had been days since he had gone to work, and in fact, it was Danny that had told him that he had responsibilities to take, surprising him. For a young boy, he was quite clever.

Two days ago, they had begun to training.

In the few days off, they had nothing to do and Vlad had been going to his company just to check if everything is organized the way it should be but would come home earlier than he usually would so that he could take care of Danny, which slightly bothered the adolescent. During those days, Danny felt uncomfortable after not using his powers for so long and could feel it wanting to come out. Vlad had figured something was wrong but decided not to bother the boy to much. It wasn't until Danny accidentally lost control of an ecto-beam that he showed any notice and concern. They went to the training room that Vlad had set up a long time ago to train his own abilities and began to use their powers. It was fun, and it reminded Danny of how he used to train with Sam and Tuck.

He truly missed them, and they were the only reason other than Jazz that he wanted to go back to Amity, even if it was for three days. It hurt to know that he couldn't return to his hometown because of his own parents, who were probably out looking for him. He talked to Jazz, Sam, and Tucker regularly, but that didn't change the fact that he couldn't go out to say hi to them. Well, actually, he _could_, but Vlad refused to allow him, being the paranoid dude he was, he said that he didn't want Danny to fall into some sort of trap that his parents had most likely set up to catch him.

He slowly followed the white-haired man as he walked to his car. Vlad turned around and looked at him with concern in his eyes.

"Are you sure you can stay here, alone? Because if you want, then w-

"Vlad." It was the look that made him shut up. They had been over this so many times since the moment Danny mentioned that he needed to go to work. Vlad would suggest that he could stay and do his work in Wisconsin, then Danny would tell him his responsibilities as a mayor which would annoy him, and then in the end Danny would win after making Vlad realize that he was right. Vlad sighed.

"Just call me if anything does go wrong. And by anything, I mean _anything_," he said, giving Danny a serious look, who nodded, taking out his cell phone and wiggling it in front of Vlad as he walked backwards to the doors. "Anything," he said with an evil grin on his face. Vlad put a hand to his face, sighing. "If anything important happens, Daniel, I swear, you prank call me and you will regret it." The smug grin never left his face, making Vlad sigh again. How was he so good at blackmailing again? Right. His mother was a pro at it, wasn't she? Jack was too much of an idiot to do that; that, and the fact that he was a lousy negotiator. Vlad smiled at Danny before opening the car door.

"Remember, call me if-

"Okay, Vlad, I get it." Vlad smirked before getting into the car and speeding away. Danny breathed slowly. Today was going to be so boring.

*Vlad's POV*

I slowly drove away, watching Daniel grow smaller in my mirror until he finally was out of view. I sighed, my head full of worry. I know I shouldn't be this worried about him, nothing bad would happen to him, and anyways, he can take care of himself, at least that's what I hoped. It was odd how I'm so worried about when before this, I used to fight him so much. Of course, I had never really meant to hurt him, and whenever I did, I didn't like it and would internally apologize as I would continue to attack.

The first time I realized I worried about him was during the Ghost King problem. When he was going in to fight one of the most powerful ghosts in the world, I was afraid that he would lose his life. But of course, I kept my evil front up and acted as if I didn't care, as if I had planned this so that he would be killed. When I saw him fighting Pariah Dark and close him into the forever-sleep-coffin, I felt proud and worried at the same time, worried that he was losing too much energy within seconds, which he was; the suit would have killed him had I not locked the coffin when I did. When he fell unconscious, anyone could tell I was afraid, and they were shocked, the other ghosts, that I had any emotions at all. Of course, as always, he saved the day, but it was the first time I decided to save him without any greed on mind. The true reason I had stolen the suit was because I knew Daniel would try and use it, and I would simply not allow that, not when I could fix the danger inside it. Of course, our later meetings were…brutal, but I never really meant it. I now realize that it was greed that filled me to go so low that I almost killed Daniel. But now I'm sure Daniel sees that I regret doing such things, that I truly care about him, that my evil side is just a front I put up to make sure no one challenges me.

Daniel, it seemed, had changed overtime too. At the beginning of his...stay, he would be alert and wide-eyed, as if he was sure that I would come and attack him from behind. He woke up screaming from the nightmares he had, and whenever I would come to check on him at night during his sleeps, I would see tear tracks glistening in the darkness, and his body would be tensed, making it seem like he was awake at times. Of course, I couldn't do anything to help him except make sure he knows he can choose or accept me as his father, but it takes time, especially when you are rejected by the two people you thought would accept you. So I did what I could to help him, make him feel at home, get him used to living...happily, a rich life. I would find some way to spend time with the raven-haired boy. I would train, teach, laugh, and play around with him. Yes, play around. I know I don't look like the type of man that could play around. But, as weird as it sounds, around Daniel, I can be childish and happy. Somehow, the awkward tension that should have been there disappeared the instant the boy cried on my shoulder and immediately, we clicked.

The town of Amity was in view now, but there was something green around the town. Something green that only a ghost (or halfa) could see. A ghost shield. I narrowed my eyes as my car went through it. Jack and Maddie had obviously gone to extremes with this, I think it was time for a friend to friend talk. In ghost form.

Speeding up, I went to my mansion made for the mayor of Amity and parked in the driveway. He hurried to open up his door and walk inside. Instantly, I transformed into my alter ego and went intangible. He flew up and out towards the Fenton household.

*3rd person POV*

Memories flashed in front of his eyes as he remembered the last time he came here. He shuddered, something that had nothing to do with the cold wind. He landed in front of the door and sighed before turning back to intangible and invisible at the same time. He went inside and looked around to find everything quiet and eerie. It was too quiet. He went into each room, staying a little longer in Danny's to find everything dusty. Finally, he decided it was time to give the lab a visit. He slowly floated down the stare and froze.

There in front of him were two figures tied to chairs. The boy with the beret seemed unconscious, while the gothic girl was seemed to be asleep, mumbling to herself. He strained to hear her, but he gasped when he realized what she was saying.

"Danny don't come, it's a trap," she mumbled. His eyes widened in disbelief. Did Jack and Maddie tie them up just to trap Danny when he tries and save him? How sick. He couldn't believe that they would do such a thing to their own son. They were probably planning to kill him as soon as they captured the boy. He wasn't going to allow them to do such a thing to his Daniel. Yes, his Daniel. Daniel had become more than a son to him, and there was nothing that would change that.

He immediately stepped forward, ready to free his friends and help them flee. But pain wracked his body, his brain feeling like jelly, and he thought he heard someone screaming. It was then that he figured out that the screams were coming out of his own mouth, and all he saw was blackness.


	8. Chapter 8

"_Jack, look, we've caught the Wisconsin Ghost!"_

"_Hmm, looks like a plus, doesn't it, Mads?"_

Vlad woke up and looked around. He was trapped in some sort of cube, similar to the one Skulker had Daniel trapped when Jazz had stayed with Vlad. He sighed. So he had been caught by none other than his own college friends. But it was better him than Daniel, only God knows what they would do if he walked into the trap. He shivered, he couldn't imagine the young boy screaming the way he did himself. His face hardened, it was time to create some sort of plan. But that seemed difficult. Anything that could be used as a weapon was put very far away from his cube, and he was sure that if he tried anything he would end up shocking himself painfully. It seemed that Jack and Maddie enjoyed causing ghosts pain, the fact twisted Vlad's stomach. True, ghosts were dead, but they were human once, they deserved to live afterlife (how ironic). They have rights too. If ghosts wanted, they could have hunted humans down (or ghost hunters) the way ghost hunters hunt them. But they don't. Alright, even if they sometimes scare people, but that's just for fun. The Ghost King's case was different though, he wanted to take over the world and the Ghost Zone, not to just rule, but to terrorize. And then there was Vortez, who froze and caused natural disasters all around the world. But still, even with such things (with the exception of Pariah Dark), ghosts didn't deserve to be ripped apart, molecule by molecule. He searched, making sure to look at everything, trying to create an impossible plan that would most likely fail, but he still had to try. He sighed. This was so hopeless.

Jack and Maddie grinned as they watched the ghost sit down in defeat. They were sitting silently in the shadows as Plasmius looked around, as if trying to make a plan or some sort even though he knew it wasn't going to work. It was quiet enjoyable. When they had heard the screams, they had run down in joy, thinking they had gotten Phantom. But they were even more excited when they figured out that it was Plasmius, Phantom's ally, that they had caught. This way the plan was so going to word better.

The sad (or rather funny) thing was that he had no idea that Daniel knew what was going on. Maddie and Jack had sent a warning, or rather a threat, by sending him pictures through their phones. You see, being a ghost hunter, it wasn't hard to access governmental files. So they searched and finally, after hours of work, found his new number. They took pictures of the ghost and the two teenagers trapped down in the lab and sent them to the boy that was once their son. But Vlad didn't know this. He was totally clueless to this.

Today we will be heroes, they both thought.

Danny bit his lip, worried as he looked at the notification.

_From: Mom._

Why would his Mom send him anything? How did his mom get his phone number anyway? Should he open it? What if it was just some message saying something mean or some sort of thing like that? No, his mom would not be that…childish. She had said that she didn't want any connection with him during the…attack. Danny had saved her number anyways, just so that the feeling of a "mom" existing in his world was a little real. He had also saved his Dad's, except instead of that, it was named Jack. Why? Because Jack had been the one to first shoot him, he was the one who had rejected him first, he was the one who had shot without a break whereas Maddie gave him a couple seconds before shooting again (even if it was to recharge the gun). He sighed and pressed the green button, opening it. What's the worst that could happen?

He stiffened. Apparently, a lot of things could.

There, on his phone, was a picture of his two best friends, tied up in a chair, unconscious. He didn't know what to say, he was too shocked and afraid to do anything but scroll down to see the rest of the picture.

This time he almost dropped the phone. In the next picture was his now friend, his past arch-enemy, trapped in a cube which reminded him of the "Jazz vs. Him" incident a few months ago. He was unconscious, in his ghost form, and pale...well, paler than a ghost. Under the two pictures was a simple text message. A text message that sent rage running through him like fire.

_You better hurry, Phantom. Before we kill all three of them. You have one hour._

He could imagine his mother saying that to him in a cruel, sadistic manner. After the incident, he could imagine his parents torturing him, ripping him apart and smiling in pleasure. Before this, or rather after the Freakshow crap, he had thought that his parents would have accepted him, and no such thing as ripping him apart would happen. But now that had all changed.

He growled, staring at the text message and the pictures. He snapped the phone shut angrily, and shouted, throwing it across the room, the impact breaking it in half. He sighed and sat down in his chair, putting his head in his hands and clutching his hair. What the hell will he do? There was no question when it came to surrendering, he had no choice. But how would he save them? His parents would instantly kill him once he surrendered, but what would they do to Vlad? What about Sam and Tuck? They would kill them too! Why would they kill them? Well, because they witnessed them killing not only two ghosts, but two humans also! This was so messed up.

"What do I do? What do I do!" He groaned to nothing in particular. He wished he could just fix everything and just go back to the way things used to be. There is no way that he could come up with a plan just like this. He needed to think, to set up, to…to plan. He needed Sam and Tuck. He needed Vlad. But he didn't have time, and his friends were all trapped with those…those…ghost hunters. He couldn't bring himself to call them his parents, not after everything they had done.

Almost killing him, kidnapping and threatening his friends. No, that was not something a parent (or parents) would do. That was just plain unforgivable. A true, good parent would love his or her kid no matter what, they would accept him or her without hesitation, they would _love _him or her. His parents weren't like that. They hated him for being different. They hated him for being alive. For being a menace, according to them. They think that they are doing it for the greater good. He sighed. He didn't have a choice, except to go and…surrender. Give up. Anyways, wouldn't it be better for everyone if he died? Less problems, less property damage, less stress…Less _Ghosts. _

Silently , he transformed, so as not to alert the other ghosts in the building, and transported (something Vlad had taught him during their training sessions) to the Ghosthunters' house. _

Danny's exhaled slowly, feeling relief at the feeling of being in his hometown. But as ironic as it was, what he didn't see as his "home" was his _home_, the house standing in front of him. He phased down to the lab, not even bothering to enter the house, and went to the stairs, freezing at the sight of his trapped, now conscious friends. Fury bubbled in his chest at the sight of them so helpless, weak, and fragile. And Vlad. He looked hopeless, as if he thought he had failed himself, something Danny was not fond of seeing. From what it seemed, he hadn't noticed Danny's silent entrance. Two silhouettes distracted him and he looked at who it was; a person in a blue hazmat and another in an orange one came out of the shadow, grinning like maniacs. Sam and Tuck's eyes widened and they screamed into their gags, trying to warn him of the trap set for him. A trap Danny knew was set for him.

Jack and Maddie had their ghost weapons put on belts that were strapped to their waists. He stepped off of the stairs and glared at them. Vlad, who was finally understanding what the two trapped teenagers were screaming so helplessly about, looked at Daniel in surprise and fear, something that shocked Daniel, for fear was not something he was used to seeing on Vlad's face.

He held his hands up, and avoided staring into their eyes. "I came. Let them go." His voice was demanding and defiant, even though on the inside he felt afraid. Afraid of what they would do to him once they got their hands on him.

"NO, DANIEL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET OUT OF HERE THIS INSTANT!" Jack's lip turned upwards and he pressed a button from a remote on his strap-belt. Vlad screamed as he was shocked violently. Danny's eyes widened and he tried to go to him, only to have his parents block the path as the ecto-current ended. He breathed hard, giving them a glare full of hate and betrayal. "I'll do worse if you try anything, boy," Jack said to him. He looked at Vlad, then at his friends before glaring back at his parents. "Now put your hands behind your back," his mother spoke, her hands holding ecto-cuffs. He searched around the room, looking for anything he could use, but found nothing. He sighed and turned around, putting his hands behind his back, ignoring Vlad's shouts and pleas for him to not do this. He felt the ecto-cuffs locking his hands together and was forced around by his father, making him stare at the innocent forms of his friends.

"Let them go. They have nothing to do with this. You got me. Isn't that enough?" A chuckle.

"We will. But after the show, hmm, boy?" Danny shuddered at the sadistic touch to his Dad's voice. He sounded crazy, like a maniac. His mother too was grinning at him, as if she's been waiting for this day to come. He wished he could say that this wasn't their fault, that they didn't know his true identity, like he had thought in the past, but that was all a lie. They knew this was their son. They knew exactly who they were killing. They knew his identity, his secret, his alter ego. He was pushed in the back and prodded forward as he was forced to walk to a table. An examination table. He shuddered, knowing what was waiting for him there as he caught sight of the scalpel and all the dangerous dissecting materials beside it.

"NO, LET HIM GO," Vlad shouted. "LEAVE HIM ALONE. STOP, PLEASE!" Moisture gathered in Danny's eyes at his pleas and he grunted as his father threw him on the table and locked him down, his hands and feet apart. He turned his head away from Vlad, not wanting to break down in front of his parents, only to see his mother pick up a dagger. He sighed in relief when his father stopped her, thinking that maybe he still pitied him and knew that he once called him son. Oh, how wrong he was. Jack started pushing different buttons, making Danny wonder what he was going to do. And it was when the sudden rush of pain came that he figured out what it was he was doing, and how wrong he was to assume that his Dad still had a bit of love for him left. He screamed loudly, his body twisting as pain wracked his body as he was shocked with special ecto-electricity meant to hurt both ghosts and humans (his dad had told him this before the attack), but even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to turn back into his human form, seeing as the cuffs that had him trapped were anti-ghost. His screams had stopped now. He was now crying out, tears gushing out of his eyes, as he didn't have the energy to scream. He could hear Vlad's shouts and cries along with his friends. After what felt like an eternity, the pain suddenly stopped. He weakly looked at his grinning parents as tears ran down his cheeks. They seemed to be enjoying this as he saw Jack smirk and handed Maddie back the dagger. She walked up to him and played with the knife tauntingly before plunging it down in his stomach. He opened his mouth to scream but didn't have time to as she took it out and plunged it back in beside the first wound. Green and red blood fell from the wounds like rivers, pooling on the ground. He panted as pain grew in his abdomen.

"P-please….s….sto…stop," he managed to say through the pain. Maddie only grinned and twisted the knife, widening the wound. This time Danny managed to get a scream out of him mouth along with a laugh out of his father.

"Stop? Why should we stop?" He leaned down, his face mean and menacing. "You deserve this ghost child. For all the crimes you've commited." He couldn't help but turn his face away, tears pooling in his eyes.

"I…am…y-your ch-child….h-how could you d-do this t-t-to your o-own child?" He stuttered as blood spilled out of his mouth. Maddie suddenly backhanded him, making him bite his lip and keep a sob from leaving his lips. He could not look weak in front of these idiots.

"Don't ever say that! We have no son!" He sighed, his breath hitching as Maddie slowly took out the knife. Jack angrily grabbed him by the scruff of his hazmat and pulled him up (as much as he could) and slammed him back down, his head hitting the metal hard as he cried out. He knew he had a concussion now. He pressed the electrifying button once more, causing Danny to scream and beg as he was tortured. But what he said made them all pause. Instead of calling Jack's or Maddie's, or even Mom and Dad, he called for someone else.

"V-Vlad, h-help! Ugh, please stop! V-vlad, hel….no! It hurts, stop!" And slowly, Vlad turned into another word.

"Vlad! Vl…Dad….Dad..help….p-please…I…I cant…." The other half-ghost's eyes widened at the transformation of the words the pained adolescent had screamed. His friends were crying and shouting through their gags at Maddie and Jack, who were smiling at Danny's pain, disgusting both him and them. Jack pressed the button again, ending the current and lessening the screams. They smiled evilly at the teenager crying below them as they brought out their dissecting materials, making Danny try and fight against the metal holding him down.

"You know, Phantom, blood really does look good on you," Jack laughed sadistically.

"NO!"

The sudden shout interrupted them and they all turned to Vlad, whose "prison" was turning from blue to green as his powerful aura grew along with the rage in his mind. The trapped cube suddenly exploded and everyone yelped in shock, except Vlad and Danny, who was too tired to do anything, as a bright light blinded them. They all, minus Danny, gasped.

Plasmius was free.


	9. Chapter 9

Vlad stayed in a defensive stance as he waited for the two _villains _to figure out the mistake they had made by hurting his Daniel. The moment Daniel had come in and surrendered, Vlad had felt his heart stop. He had felt fear for the boy, he knew what Jack and Maddie would do to him. But when he actually saw it happening, he panicked. He shouted and, for the first time, begged them to stop hurting his boy. When he was shocked, Vlad had felt the pain he felt, not physically, but it had hurt him nonetheless. He screamed with the boy, along with his friends, as Jack tortured him. But what sent rage running through him was went Maddie mercilessly stabbed the boy, letting his ectoplasmic human blood spill to the ground. And she was _laughing. _She was enjoying causing her own son pain. And when the boy asked them why they would do this to their own child, a very valid question, they electrified him again as if asking the question was a crime. He felt a pang of pain as Daniel screamed in pain, begging his father to stop, to please, please stop. He froze when he heard his name, and his eyes widened when _Vlad _turned into _Dad. _He felt a sliver of joy as he realized that the boy now saw him as his father. But what set him off was when Maddie and Jack began to take out dissection material.

"You know, Phantom, blood really does look good on you." The way Jack said it had Vlad's head snapping up in shock and disgust.

"NO!" Vlad shouted.

When he heard and saw them, he immediately used his ectoplasmic energy power and touched the cube, panicked and angry, making it grow hot and explode. Sure, it had shocked him, but it was nothing compared to the rage filled inside.

The look on the two ghosthunter's, the _villains, _faces was totally worth it, but Vlad could care less. Their faces were going to be dead now for all that matter. His hands glowed with red energy, and after making sure they realized they were in danger, he duplicated himself and fired at them. They dodged his blast(s) and went the other way, seeking a refuge so that they could fight him and his clones with cover. Vlad hurried towards where Daniel was lying, breathing hard as blood pooled all around him. He bit back an sob at seeing the pain the boy was in and pressed a button to release him of the ecto-cuffs put on him. Daniel stayed limp as he was released from the restraints he was in, but he didn't miss the sigh he heard.

Danny felt joyful when he saw that Vlad was free. Maybe there was a chance that he might live through this. That he might be able to save his friends. His parents had tortured him, but Vlad had stopped that. He sighed in relief when the ecto-cuffs let go of him, but didn't move as Vlad's face came into his line of vision.

"I'm so sorry, Daniel. I swear, I'll fix this." Danny coughed as he focused on Vlad's words. He could hear his parents shuffling around as they looked for a way to attack Vlad and his duplicates without getting hurt themselves. _I'll fix this_. Vlad was going to save him, he would be alright. He opened his mouth and slowly stuttered, feeling nauseous. The man, his father, shook his head at him and brought a finger to his lips as he cried. "Shh, my boy. It'll be fine," he whispered. And it was then that Danny realized he had been crying, begging silently for help. And he knew why. The pain he felt at the moment was so intense. Every moment felt as if he was on fire, as if someone was burning him. He could feel the stinging pain of the stab wounds, and moving hurt so much. He couldn't speak because he knew that all that would end up coming out of his mouth would be screams. So he just sent the message to Vlad through his eyes, telling him that he understood.

A sudden green shot hit Vlad in his arm as Jack fired the Fenton Bazooka at him. He fell back a few feet and growled as if glared at his enemy, slowly getting up as he never broke eye contact with the ghosthunter. He flew towards him, fighting the man with his ecto-blast as he, with difficulty, blocked him. He would kick, Vlad would dodge than throw an ecto-blast that Jack would avoid, repeat cycle.

Jack dodged a powerful punch and laughed when he hit him in the chest, making the ghost stumble backwards. As Vlad got back up, he returned to his defensive position, glaring at the man in the orange jumpsuit. He looked at the ghosthunter, whose eyes were full of hatred and snarled when he smirked. "What? Miffed about what I did to Dannyboy?" Vlad dodged a Bazooka blast and growled, earning another smirk from Jack. "Shut up." The way he said it would have made anyone flinch, but Jack was on sadistic-mode and Maddie was blinded by hate. At the moment, he was so angry as he blocked Jack's attacks with ease. This man had hurt his son. He had _tortured _him, pained him, laughed at his pain. How. Dare. They. How dare they hurt him, their own son! He was going to make sure Jack felt pain. He was going to make _Maddie, _the women he thought he loved, would feel pain. They rejected not only Daniel, but him too (technically). They had a choice to accept him, to understand him. Instead they attacked him, set a trap for him by taking the most precious people in the boy's life to bring him to them, and _tortured him! _

He rolled his eyes, getting tired of lazily blocking Jack's attack. He was just about to send the fatal blast, when he heard a shout.

"VLAD, NO!"

Danny looked at Vlad as he fought Jack, a man who he once called Dad. He could not believe his own parents had done such a thing to him. He had thought that since they were human, they would show some humanity, and instead of torturing him, causing him pain, they would just get rid of him quickly and painlessly. But they had done the opposite. They had made sure to make him feel unaccepted, to make him feel pain both emotionally and physically, to reject him. The pain he felt just from these few weeks was too much, especially for someone his age.

Hmm, seemed Jack had gotten better at fighting, he thought lamely as he stared at the two fighting. He glanced at his wounds, grimacing as he saw that blood was still slightly spilling and pooling around him. A sudden thought occurred to Jack was fighting Vlad, where was Maddie? The answer made his eyes widen in horror as he searched and found his so-called mother. Maddie was slowly creeping up on Vlad, who had his back turned towards her, with a Fenton sword (it was a normal sword with anti-ghost material on it). Danny felt disgusted. How cowardly. He felt ashamed that these were his parents. These inhuman ghosthunters.

He slid himself off the table, falling to the ground hard and wincing at the stinging it caused. He looked at Vlad as he fought, sighing in relief that he didn't notice Danny fall, but pausing when he didn't see Maddie. He dragged himself forward hurriedly, making his friends notice immediately when blood stained the tiles on the ground. He bit his lip, keeping a scream inside as pain reverberated through his body. His friends shouted at him as he grabbed the leg of the chair Sam was in and pushed himself up, swaying a little as he stood. He looked at Sam for a moment before looking at Maddie, who was still creeping up behind Vlad. Should he free them or go to Vlad? He pursed his lips at not just the pain but as he picked the rope of one hand and tugging at it, untied it. One hand would do, Sam could open up the rest of the ties. He looked back at Vlad and realized he didn't have time to jump on Maddie and stop her. His eyes widened as Maddie raised the weapon to strike Vlad, who was still blocking and fighting Jack (who was using weapons and punches/kicks at the same time). He immediately pushed himself forward and screamed at Vlad as he half-flew and half-jumped in the way of the sword of Vlad and the sword.

"VLAD, NO!" The half-ghost kicked Jack, making him fall and turned around just in time to see Danny jump in the way. Danny could see that he was angry, full of rage; that he was on killer mode right now. And he couldn't let him die. Not after everything Vlad had done for him, not after he had become the Dad Danny always wanted.

Time stopped. His stomach cramped and suddenly, he felt a numbing pain in his body. He looked at Vlad, whose eyes were full of horror and confusion, whose eyes were not looking at Danny's own, but lower. Danny followed his eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. There, in the middle of his chest, was a silver point sticking out, shining brightly. A silver point that he immediately recognized.

The Fenton Sword.

His mother had just pierced his heart with the Fenton Sword. Blood bubbled around the sword and started to slowly run down, making his clothes wet and sticky. He looked back at Vlad, who was now staring back at him, horrified. He would have laughed at the expression if it weren't for the fact that he couldn't. Instead he coughed, and a metallic taste filled his mouth as blood spilled from his mouth. The sword was suddenly jerked out, and he fell to his knees. He faintly heard the screams of his friends and Vlad as the world began to spin around. Blue rings formed at his waist, going up and down, transforming him back to his human self. He heard a victorious chuckle, no doubt from his mother.

Why wouldn't she laugh?

She had succeeded; her mission was complete. He was going to die. Danny Phantom was going to die. Was he? Was this how people felt when they die? He slowly fell forward, closing his eyes as he waited to meet the ground hard, but didn't. Instead, he heard a anguished cry and warm, comforting arms were suddenly holding him. He was turned around and he found himself staring at watery, amethyst eyes.

"Danny, no…." Her voice was so beautiful, even when she was crying. He tried to smile, but only managed to twitch his lip upwards a little. He gasped for breath when he realized that he hadn't been breathing at all. He felt the weight of something fall on his chest, and he almost moved it away, until he realized it was Sam's hand, trying to do the impossible, to stop the blood. A dark-skinned boy with a beret came into view and Tucker was suddenly staring at him with sad, teary eyes like Sam's. He licked his lips before speaking slowly, his voice cracking. "Hold on, Danny, just hold on. It's gonna be fine. Just hold on." A sudden shout quieted them down and Sam and Tucker looked up just in time to see Vlad come running towards them. He fell to his knees, his hands shaking as he caressed Danny's here.

"Daniel, I need you to stay awake, please." For the second time, Danny felt surprised at the helpless tone in Vlad's voice. He opened his mouth and slowly spoke.

"V…Dad…I'm..so sorry," he said. If he was going to die, might as well apologize for everything. The other halfa shook his head, tears spilling down his cheeks. "Shh, no, no don't say that. None of this is your fault, we need to heal you, just stay awake." His breath hitched and his body twitched and Vlad's hold on him tightened. Vlad suddenly felt angry.

"Ghost, Daniel, Why, Why would you do this? I never said….just why?" It was a question they all wanted to ask. Why would he sacrifice his life for someone he just got to know? But the answer was quiet clear. Vlad had helped him so much, that Danny felt he owed it to him. But he didn't owe him this much, not enough to take his own life! Sky blue eyes looked in to Vlad's, and Danny slowly opened his mouth.

"You're….more im…portant…than me…..world…needs….you more," he gasped out, feeling a numbing pain take over his body as he lost control. Vlad shook his head, tears filling his eyes.

"No….Daniel…little badger, _please," _he whispered. Daniel did not deserve this. This wasn't suppose to happen. He was supposed to live happily with Vlad, his Dad, he was supposed to smile, laugh, play, and annoy Vlad. Not die. Not like this.

Danny twitched again. It was obvious he didn't have much control over his body anymore. He looked to Vlad with wide, fearful blue eyes.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Dad," he whispered. It was then that his body went lax, his head fell backwards, revealing his vulnerable throat, his hand slipped from Tucker's grasp and landed on the floor with a thud. But the look on his face…the look on his face was unforgettable. Eyes wide and dull, lips parted slightly, and a shaky breath, a final breath passed through those now pale lips before it all happened. Vlad's eyes widened. He shook the boy lightly, hoping for a response.

None came. He shook him again, this time growling at him. "Come on, Daniel," he growled.

Nothing. Not the slightest response. He shook again. Danny's head lolled sideways, revealing his beautiful, innocent face to Vlad.

And it was then that he lost it. He began shaking the boy hard, his breath coming out in huffs, his eyes wide in fear and denial, tears coming out of them.

"_Please, Daniel! Daniel!" _The cry reverberated throughout the entire house.


End file.
